A vehicle including an internal combustion engine is generally provided with a catalyst to purify exhaust gas from the internal combustion engine. The exhaust cannot be purified sufficiently unless the catalyst has reached an activation temperature. Conventionally, there has been proposed an electrical heated catalyst (hereinafter, also referred to as “EHC”) configured to allow the catalyst to be heated by an electric heater or the like.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2009-225603 (PTL 1) in association with the technique to heat the EHC discloses a vehicle including an AC motor for driving the vehicle, a power storage device storing electric power to be supplied to the AC motor, and a conversion device for converting the DC current from the power storage device into AC current for feeding the AC motor. A coil directed to heating a catalyst is connected between the conversion device and the AC motor. By energizing the catalyst-heating coil by the current flowing through the AC motor, the catalyst is heated.